Dalai Lama Hopeful on Self-Rule for Tibet

Published: September 29, 1991

ULAN BATOR, Mongolia, Sept. 28—
The exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama, said today that his Himalayan homeland had been encouraged in its struggle for independence from China by Mongolia's experience in throwing off strict Communism.

There have been "so many restrictions, so much effort to eliminate the Buddhist faith in Tibet," he said, but "they will not succeed."

Earlier in the day, the Dalai Lama chanted prayers before a crowd of 15,000 people at Mongolia's national sports stadium.

The Dalai Lama, who won the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent struggle against Chinese rule over Tibet, told reporters later that world changes had shown that China's authoritarian system in Tibet was doomed to failure.

He added that Tibetans could take heart that Mongolian Buddhism had survived nearly 70 years of suppression under Communist rule while Tibet had endured Communist Chinese rule for only 35 years.

The Communists still rule Mongolia but have had to share power with minority parties since elections last year.